Kings hold off Senators to stay unbeaten on road

OTTAWA -- The Los Angeles Kings remained unbeaten on the road this season with a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

“I feel like we’ve always been a good road team ever since I came into the League,” Kings forward Adrian Kempe said. “Obviously, now we have a little bit more of a swagger. ... We think we’re a good road team and we can come into any building and get points.”

Phillip Danault, Carl Grundstrom and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings (6-2-2), who have won their first five road games. Kempe had two assists, and Cam Talbot made 24 saves in his return to Ottawa. The 36-year-old made 32 starts for the Senators last season.

“I think calm and stable are two pretty good words to describe him,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said of Talbot. “He’s good at cleaning up our messes. We let a lot on the early penalty kill, but after that, it wasn’t a lot coming at him over and over again. But when they did, they’re a dangerous team and he was there to mop everything up.”

Josh Norris and Dominik Kubalik scored, and Joonas Korpisalo made 35 saves for the Senators (4-5-0) in his first game against his former team since signing as a free agent with Ottawa on July 2. The Senators played two forwards short for more than half the game after injuries to Ridly Greig and Mark Kastelic.

“The mistakes we made that went in the net are just mistakes,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “That isn’t talent-based. That’s bad reads or not enough poise or what have you. … For us to win games, you can use [being] short-handed as an excuse, but that isn’t going to fix anything. We’re going to have to be airtight defensively.”

Danault gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 3:11 of the first period with a power-play goal, beating Korpisalo on his own rebound at the edge of the crease.

“[Los Angeles] scoring on the first power play clearly put us on our heels,” Smith said, “And then, the injury to Ridly and Kastelic back to back. We had some short lines and we had some tired guys. … We stayed with it enough to have a chance at the end, but give them credit, they played a really good game.”

Senators forward Drake Batherson had a wide-open net on the power play at 11:58, but Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov blocked the shot with his stick.

“I don’t know, it was just like instincts. I tried to block it,” Gavrikov said. “[Talbot] saved us a couple days ago, pretty much in the same situation, [Talbot] made a great save for us, so now I help out.”

Grundstrom made it 2-0 at 5:00 of the second when he one-timed a cross-slot pass from Kempe on the rush.

Kopitar extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:55, poking in a loose puck at the edge of the crease.

“We’re just rolling the lines and we can trust everyone on the ice, whether it’s defensively or offensively,” Danault said. “Our [defensemen] have been really good, and our goalie has been outstanding. He’s giving us a chance to win every game.”

Kubalik cut it to 3-1 on the power play at 19:39 when his wrist shot beat Talbot from the slot off a pass by Claude Giroux.

Norris tipped a Jacob Bernard-Docker point shot while Kopitar was skating to the bench after being hit in the face with the puck at 4:09 of the third for the 3-2 final.

“The trust factor is high amongst linemates and pairs, the team as a whole,” McLellan said. “We have a pretty good idea of how we need to play. Sometimes bounces don’t go your way. Their second goal hits [Kopitar] in the face and a little bit of bad luck, but for the most part, I think we can play tight, uncomfortable games.”

NOTES: Kastelic had to be helped off the ice early in the second period after he lost an edge and fell into the boards, and Greig left the game midway through the first with a lower-body injury after he crashed into the boards awkwardly attempting a hit. Both players are “very doubtful for these next few games,” according to Smith. … The Kings have scored 42 goals through their first 10 games, the most since 1993-94. … Los Angeles forward Kevin Fiala had his point streak end at eight games. He had 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) during the streak.